In Our Commercial Time

Whence came this widespread ignominious term worthy of the most malicious atheists? Does it have any foundation? For as long ago as 2000 years, as the New Testament says, the moneylenders were cast out of the Temple.

Unfortunately, we have quite enough evidence today that the use of such expressions connected with the church's participation in our social life is, to put it mildly, not so groundless. This, first of all, logically refers to Orthodoxy, given the existing schism and the three squabbling churches. They are at war or, at best, in competition with one another, competing for congregations, church buildings, historic shrines, and for societal dominance, as well as for the favor of politicians or the new rich i.e., those with power or money. The government at all levels "sells" its favor to a certain church: it immediately registers some communities and denies legitimate registration to others, frantically promotes the restitution of church property, and invites the people of only one church to take honorary seats at meetings and rallies. What the authorities get in return is the main thing for them: electoral support. They also receive church awards, as if the latter had been instituted specially for those who have money and power. How many winners of all those church awards, men and women too "transparent" for society, do we now have! Clearly, churches, like all of us and like never before, need funds - for the restoration and construction of church buildings, development of clerical education, and aid to the needy. But does money really "not smell," as pagan Roman Emperor Vespasian once cynically said? One thing, however, is certain: such "commerce" sooner or later besmirches the reputation of any church and its public image. In a bitter letter to our editor, one of our readers from Donetsk region even called the church in his village "a commercial facility trading in funeral services."

Another arena for inter-church rivalry in peddling spiritual services has arisen recently: the army. The idea of reviving the post of chaplains at once provoked a conflict and triggered a feverish redistribution of military units among the major churches along with a wave of granting awards to the top brass. And a cautious proposal to make St. Andrew's Church a national interfaith Christian center for the armed services encountered unanimous indignation, especially since each denominations has plans of its own concerning St. Andrew's Church.

All the world's churches do not coexist like this. Recently, a delegation of clerical and lay representatives of Ukraine's three Orthodox denominations had a chance (thanks to support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation) to see how Germany's two largest church organizations, the Evangelical (Protestant) and Roman Catholic, work in the military. We saw many interesting things there, but let me only recall a few. The first thing that caught our eye was that the leaders of both the Evangelical and Catholic chaplain services met the Ukrainian delegation together. The Evangelical Church Bundeswehr Department and the Catholic Episcopal Army Agency are housed in the same building, have a joint general program of work, and they actually work together. Among other things, they conduct ecumenical liturgies at military units to which they invite all Christians as well as non-Christians (which obviously cements unity in the units). All this in spite of the Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestant having very basic theological and ritual differences, let alone the schism and protracted enmity of the past!

Incidentally, we also learned that no German churches bless the weapons, cruisers, submarines, tanks, fighters, or other military hardware, as is the case with some Orthodox churches. The German clergy also does not take official part in such a purely military act as taking the oath of allegiance. Their army pastors are engaged only in shepherding the men's souls. The rest is left to Caesar.